Enter the Dojo

The Jesus Dojo: St B’s and St Paul’s – making movies in the way of Jesus.

Telling Our Stories Well

Matthew 18:21-35:   The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

23 ‘For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. ²⁴When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents^* was brought to him; ²⁵and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. ²⁶So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.” ²⁷And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. ²⁸But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow-slaves who owed him a hundred denarii;^* and seizing him by the throat, he said, “Pay what you owe.” ²⁹Then his fellow-slave fell down and pleaded with him, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you.” ³⁰But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he should pay the debt. ³¹When his fellow-slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. ³²Then his lord summoned him and said to him, “You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ³³Should you not have had mercy on your fellow-slave, as I had mercy on you?” ³⁴And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he should pay his entire debt. ³⁵So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister^* from your heart.’

The Padawan’s Tale:

A Nightmare on Sesame Street.

Lost Lip Gloss

The Sun Just Shines

The Girl in the Bookstore

teaser….

Rocks and Roots

a final blog from the Mountain – or actually from the valley below

“To have a beginning is to have an end, and to have an end is to have a new beginning”

-Albert Einstein

As this week on the mountain comes to an end, I often find myself thinking about the beginning. How the first theme the staff offered to us was that of our faith being like roots of a tree, and of offering gods hope to those around us. Last night I found myself thinking back to those words because of our project we had completed.  Our partner in the community, Ms. Camm, knew exactly what she wanted. For us to uncover the roots of her tree from 2 extra feet of sawdust and dirt and to move her paving stones and rocks around to form a landscaped garden. It wasn’t until sharing last night that I truly understood how this project tied into my trip to the mountain. Our activities throughout the day included stripping away all the raw materials (rocks, sawdust, dirt, sticks, baby roots, ect) from the base of the tree and the garden.  This is similar to how I think of Mountain Top.  As a camper you come to the mountain with many of your everyday “accessories” stripped away (i.e.- cell phone service, Facebook, air-conditioning, taco bell).  This helps you get back to your roots, and spiritually how you live your life.  Sometimes we can have so many distractions in our lives that god just continues to get pushed farther and farther away.  So like clearing the roots of Ms. Cann’s trees we go to the mountain to clear our roots.  For some it is merely brushing the dirt off the top, others always have their roots exposed, and for some they completely rediscover the existence of their roots.  The greatest thing of all is that no matter what shape your roots were in, all of our roots continue to grow through Christ.  So when this week on the mountain comes to an end it is normal to feel changed, to have grown in your beliefs, to feel like you have found god in your life.  But what next? What do you do when you return to the valley bellow? You keep in touch with your roots; let your roots guide you! Share your beliefs and passion because in doing so you spread your roots.  Spreading your roots shares HOPE with others!  Use your roots to share the word of the lord! We are fishers of men, followers along the way, trying to make earth as it is in heaven.  Remember if you ever question yourself and your beliefs all you have to do is find your ROOTS!

-Trevor Hyssong

Another Pilgrim’s Blog

Pilgrim-ing on! You never know where The Pilgrim’s Way path will lead … here’s one veering.

http://fierypapertiger.blogspot.com/2010/07/fire.html

Mountain TOP Pics

Mountain TOP 2010 Pics

Camp Cumberland Pines, Grundy County TN

A Pilgrimage in Mission.

Hope

This past week, the radiating theme has been hope. In every experience I’ve had on this mountain, whether I’ve shared it with a Grundy County native, a staff member, a friend, my YRG, or God, I’ve seen so much hope. Tonight especially nourished the hope that has been growing inside of me all week. The Friday night worship has traditionally been a time of reflection and revelation; as a group we share communion and trade stories of hope and finding Christ shining through our experiences with others. As this is my third year coming to Mountain TOP, I have always struggled with taking what I learned during an amazingly close week with God and carrying it down the mountain, applying it to daily life. Consequently, I’ve vowed to make this year different. As I sat in worship, I really pondered how I would be able to make this change in myself. The people in my YRG showed me such positivity, and put on smiles even as we struggled through a miserably hot day, or a shortage of wood to build a railing with. In worship I thought of how moved I was by their positivity, and how it was always able to improve my attitude as well. The joy surrounding me was absolutely contagious. I realized that I wanted to be someone bringing positivity and joy to people, sharing hope in God so deeply rooted that it could never be disrupted. These people that I have been able to share such great relationships with have helped me find the beauty of God in everything around me, and I know I can be the same source of joy and assistance in walking with Christ through life. I want to share my faith with others, and after this week I can tell them how truly great my God is.

I am so thankful for the experience I was able to have this week—a very different but still phenomenal Mountain TOP!

Mary Kate

Marie

Today, my YRG journeyed to an… interesting place, home to a wonderful elderly woman named Marie. It was definitely one of the nicer houses we’ve seen on the mountain, and we ended up fulfilling the social need much more than the physical. What was disconcerting about the job was that the second you walked through the front door, immediately to your right was a room filled with just DOLLS. Frankly, it was alarming, and as one of my group members said, we would definitely not have been able to sleep peacefully in that room.

However, as we spent the day talking to Marie, we learned the history of those dolls. Marie got her first one when she was eight, and ever since, she’s been collecting. But the mass of them that we saw today (for there were well over 300) were actually her third or fourth collection. It turned out that when Marie’s first collection was still growing, many years ago, she met a woman who had cancer. This woman could only get proper treatment in Chattanooga, and barely had enough money for food, as she was trying to save it all for the trip to the doctor. When lovely, amazing Marie heard this, she donated all of her dolls to this woman, without a second thought, in order to sell and raise enough money for her treatment. Then, she started collecting again, and just as that collection had begun to overtake the size of the last one, she met another woman with the exact same problem: cancer, and no money to get treatment. And Marie? Well, Marie had the exact same solution: she once again donated every single one of her dolls to the health of this unfortunate cancer victim.

This story simply amazed me. The fact that Marie had been passionate about her dolls since her childhood, yet was so willing to part with them not once, but twice, for someone in need is inspiring to me. The theme at camp this week is sharing hope, and if this isn’t a prime example of it, I don’t know what is. I felt like the phrase “Don’t judge a book by its cover” was basically shoved in my face today; God showed me that something initially disturbing to me can really just be a mask hiding something enormously beautiful, and being able to discover what was behind those dolls’ masks made this day simply remarkable.

-Ashley DePeri.

Breaking Through

Hello! This week has been amazing so far. Really and truly wonderful. Yesterday and today my YRG and I finished painting the exterior of a sweet old lady’s house. Her name was Willie Mae and her brother Frank lived with her. When we first got there we were a little confused on our job and what exactly we were painting so we went inside to ask her. Little did we know that Willie Mae was about to share copious amounts of insight and hope. See…we got there at 9:30 and actually didn’t start the physical work until 11. Let’s just say Willie Mae loves to talk. This was the point at which I realized that this project was more about fulfilling the social, emotional, and spiritual needs of an old lady with an ocean of faith. Throughout the two days Jane and I spent about 5 hours talking to Frank and Willie Mae and keeping them company inside the house. During these precious hours I was touched. These two elderly people had more hope than I’d ever seen. They both had health problem be it heart attacks, diabetes, or arthritis yet they still believed that Christ was walking there with them and had a plan for them up until their last breath. One of Willie Mae’s most emphasized words of wisdom was that if God is our Father then we are all brothers and sisters and need to treat each other that way. This was why she was so glad that all of us from Mtn TOP were working together so well, even though we’d never met before Sunday.

Another thing that I love about Mountain TOP is the worship. Monday night we talked about “suffering hope”. This message really struck a chord in my heart. I had a real breakthrough and it really opened my eyes. I could spend forever telling you about my wake-up call but instead I’d like to share a piece of scripture that I found.

It’s Psalm 37:23-24:

If the Lord delights in a man’s way,

He makes his steps firm;

Though he stumble, he will not fall,

For the Lord upholds him with his hand.

Katherine Deal.

Monday – Hope Amidst Suffering

Greetings from the Mountain!  Tonight, we find the only thing appropriate to say is:

We love you Rhea, and we think of you often and all the incredible moments you spent with us in this holy space.

And to Ellen, into the loving and comforting hands of our Father we place you. This week on the mountain, we remember the time you spent with us here, and we pray to be close to where you now rest. We’ll miss you.

In remembrance, the 2010 St. Paul’s  Mountain T.O.P. Team

The Sorting Hat

Thoughts of the day by Trevor and Ben…

The Sorting Hat

First off, we arrived safe and sound to the Mountain Top!

Some say today is the longest day of the year, others think of it as a new beginning.  A day to move outside your comfort zone, immerse yourself in groups of strangers, and hopefully meet people that you will remember for the rest of your life.   However it makes it a little tricky when your church makes up almost half the camp, but never the less the YRG’s have been decided.  We would describe the process as a mix between the sorting hat at Hogwarts and picking dodgeball teams.  But as the day comes to a close everyone has their groups energized and prepared for the day of ministry ahead.

After meeting the camp staff, having our first worship, and sharing the first two meals of the week there is no doubt in my mind that this will be another amazing week on the mountain filled with life changing experiences and face to face encounters with god!

Peace Always,

Trevor Hyssong and Ben Butler